Hope for Today will inspire you to live a life connected to Christ by empowering you to fall in love with Jesus through personal spiritual growth. Teaching you the power of your identity and authority in Christ. Encouraging you in your inheritance as an ambassador for the kingdom of God!

Monthly Archives: August 2017

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Do you ever wonder why it takes disaster for people to put aside their differences and come together and help one another? I’m not much on labels but it amazes me how left can reach out to right and red can reach out to blue. How people of all cultures, race, creed and background work in unity with one another as a community. Its as if suddenly we see each other for who we truly are, human beings made in the image of God.

I implore you to ask yourself over the next few days, weeks, and months, what it would look like if we chose to respect one another by putting aside our strong opinions, and instead, praying for our Nation and all the people that live within. If you truly want to see peace be a peacemaker.

Perhaps, in this way, we can call on each other not only when we need a friend, but at all times.

These verses stand powerfully on their own, but when they are strung together they hold hands and are beautifully intertwined, walking side by side and instructing us with guidance from the Holy Spirit’s heart.

DO NOT give up! God has uniquely gifted you to share the gospel message by the power of the Holy Spirit that lives inside of you. THE same power that raised Christ from the dead lives in you. If you believe in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit is at work in you and through you. Whether you love arts and crafts, fixing cars, visiting the elderly, teaching, preaching, writing, singing, whatever your God-given passion is, you have been gifted to share the gospel message. This is your responsibility as a believer in Jesus Christ.

Stay connected to God daily. Read your Bible, study a word, a verse, or a passage. Find a good concordance, a Bible word study book, commentaries, or an online Bible study tool to help you dig deeper into God’s word. Praise him, worship him. thank him, and pray without ceasing. You CAN do this!

When you are slayed by God’s amazing grace. When you pray and ask for wisdom and He gives it to you in the most unexpected way. When you realize he truely did hear all those cries out to him. When the answer to your prayers are unconventional, because God cannot be contained by your finite mind. When you have nothing to offer but thank you over and over again, and even this is not sufficient. You realize that, ‘once you were blind but now you see’ isn’t just about seeing Jesus for the first time, its about seeing him through the struggles that grow your faith because HE is faithful. Father, we don’t get to choose how you will answser our prayers, and I pray you will continually open our eyes to see the answers right in front of us. May we always be overwhelmed by your goodness and faithfulness. May your will always be well with our soul.#trusttheprocess#noexpectations#restored2017

This is one of my most favoite verses. It speaks to my warrior heart. I can’t tell you how often I need this reminder, especially when the enemy is ‘barking up the wrong tree’! It helps me to remember that my fight is not with my words or actions, that my power as a warrior AND an ambassador to the kingdom of God is through prayer and the power of the Holy Spirit within me. Isn’t it a relief to know that Jesus consumes and devours our foes?

This morning my oldest lovebug sent me a text to tell me she saw the above caption on a church billboard on her way to work. I’ve been pondering this all morning, wondering how Holy Spirit would turn into a blog post.

Two years ago we sent our daughter off to study abroad in Amman, Jordan for a semester during her Junior year in college, and she immediately fell in love with the people, the culture and the country. She was in a language immersion program and all the students had to take a pledge not to speak their native language and could only speak in Arabic. She worked hard with her professor and her Jordanian language partner and her new Jordanian friends, who all helped her to understand, read, write, and speak Arabic.

When she came home I believe she left a piece of her heart in Jordan and she longed to continue speaking in Arabic, but there was a lack of others to converse with her. A few months ago she found a program where she can continue her studies in Arabic and she applied.

She sent me another text this morning, wait for it…..she has received a scholarship from the Omani government to continue her language studies! Proud is an understatement!

God reigns and the Son shines. He certainly does lovebug, He certainly does.

Do you love a prodigal? Maybe you are or have been a prodigal. I was a bit of a prodigal in my younger years, but I’m also a rule follower and prodigal living, thankfully, lasted a very short season for me. But this post isn’t about placing labels, in fact a few different Bible translations preface this parable as ‘The Story of the Lost Son.’ And truly, that is the core of the issue. The wild, extravagant, and loose living is a by product of the condition of the heart of the one engaging in this lifestyle. Their heart has let go of what they know to be true of God and they are lost. Lost to the ones who love them and lost in themselves. BUT, they are not lost to God.

Sometimes loving a wayward loved one means giving them their inheritance, whatever that may look like, setting them free and trusting God to work out His perfect plan for their life; never giving up hope. Hope is one of the beautiful pieces of this story. The father of the lost son never gave up hope.

I wonder how long the son was gone? Can you imagine everyday the father looking down the road expecting to see his son walking toward him? Hope allowed him to be expectant. And, oh, what a glorious day when he turned his watchful eyes down the road, and there, a far distance off was his lost son come home again. Hope caused him to run toward his son in compassion and shower him with gracious provisions and welcome his son home.